Meet Paige Alivia!

Yes..Paige...NOT PARKER! I'm home now after a very LONG weekend. I got the surprise of my life this week. Here's a bit of the story....

On Thursday, I was really excited because there was a storm coming into town. I figured it would be great pressure drop and my water would break. The storm ended at 10:00pm and my water broke at 10:30pm. I was a bit shocked when I sat up in my bed watching Tv and all of a sudden...gush! I told Hal "uh Honey, my water just broke!" He asked the obvious question, "are you sure you didn't just pee yourself???" I went to the bathroom for a following GUSH!! I called my BIL and he came to watch the sleeping kids as my sister drove up to spend the night and weekend with them. I called L and D and we headed in.
When we arrived at L and D, I was met with a new doctor I had never met before. We discussed options of pitocin and such and he checked me. I was still only 2cm and NOT having any contractions at this point. Go figure considering all the contractions I had prior. The baby's head was still NOT engaged. So pitocin was started and all was progressing as nature. At about 7 hours into it, I opted for some much needed rest with Nubane. THey luckily gave me a double dose and I was able to sleep for about an hour or so. IT wore off in 2 hours (amazing!!) and I asked for more. BAD IDEA! It made me sick and didn't help at all! I could barely open my eyes as the room was spinning and my heart was beating really fast. Hal was awesome as always during delivery. He sat behind me at this point and held me up duing every contrax. He was my rock! I told the nurse that I felt a lot of pressure, she checked me...8 and still NOT engaged! COME ON BABY!! After about half an hour, I felt sooooooooo much pressure and it was killing me. I told the nusre, the baby was coming NOW! She said I was only 8 cm and to wait. I said NO, get the dr...baby is coming! Anyways, they ran aroundl like crazy people at 10:00 to get the room ready and stirups in place. I pushed the baby out in 5 minutes! When SHE came out..we didn't know she was a SHE. We were still thinking it was little Parker. The doctor instantly told me "oh honey, he has a cleft lip, did you know that?" Instantly I started crying and was emotional. Hal was amazing again telling me that he was beautiful and perfect and we would be okay. Then in the same minute, the doctor says "oh honey..this is a girl, I'm sorry, this is a girl!" I looked to Hal and I told him "are you okay?" He said "she's perfect, I'm okay. It's okay" The time following that is not a blur but in my mind, I was in shock! Two big surprises all at one time! All this information has to be wrong. This is NOT my baby! I have a baby boy named Parker and he's perfect. But, as I watched this SCREAMING baby, I knew she was mine. She weighed 8 pounds and 15 ounces and was 22 inches long. Lots of black hair, hense the heartburn. She was and IS perfect.

Paige Alivia is perfect. I focus on the perfect in her. She has a cleft lip and cleft palate. She is amazing though! She is a perfect sleeper and she eats really well. Generally children with cleft anything have a difficult time breastfeeding. This is our first challenge as it is vitally important to me and to her development that she is breastfed! I am proud to say that with lots of work and an extra night stay in the hospital where we could focus on this, Paige has been able to latch on quite a few times. She is not getting a whole lot at this point as my milk supply is just coming in. But, she is doing wonderful! She will NEVER be able to fully receive breastmilk until she is much older if ever. But, in order for her to receive her surgeries, she must be healthy. Breastfeeding is one of those ways I WILL get her there!

As for surgery, I am optimistic. I am a God fearing woman and know that He will help her through whatever obstacle she has to face. We will be going to Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital in a few weeks or days to get her fully evaluated. She will then be fitted with a plate that will sit in the roof of her mouth. This will then serve as a barrier until she is older and can that surgery completed. At about 2 to 6 months old, she will have her lip fixed. After which, the palate will then be finished. Dental work will be done when these are completed. I pray, as I hope you all will, that these are successful and she is not scarred by any of this! She is already beautiful and this will just show the world how beautiful she truly is!

As for Paige, she is very sweet. She is laying on me sleeping and snoring as I type this. She is a great sleeper and a little piggy. She is eating well from special bottles that help her to latch correctly. She only lost 5 ounces during our 2 day stay in the hospital which is A HUGE success for cleft lip/palate patients, who can lose quite a bit. But, we are strong woman and will pull through this! Nothing is too difficult for us! 

The kids adore Paige. They were a bit confused on why we are now buying pink instead of blue. But, Maddie keeps telling me how “cutie” her sister is. Owen gives her a MILLION kisses and is extremely worried when she cries.

As for Hal and I…we are in a bit of shock. This is a little hard to handle as I am sure everyone can understand. We love our daughter but it’s almost like we are mourning the son we didn’t have. Paige is perfect in my eyes. I am just now starting to realize what all this means for having 2 little girls. I can dress them alike, they can take dance class together, I can spoil the crap outta my only boy! All these things are so fun to think about, just different from the way we have thought for the last year, thinking of little Parker.

So right now, I ask you all to just say a little (or long) prayer for my precious baby girl! We love her and she fits with us!